The THIRD and FINAL Panthiad Trial

[David]

The Third and final Panthiad -- the Trial for the Hesper -- begins soon. The three teams know that this relic of Apollo allows its user to peer through time and space. Using the relic, seers were able to predict the future and discern the part. Aided by the powers of the other relics, Mikhail was able to recover the Staff of Law from a pocket dimension known only to Ptah.

The quest to win the Trial is to reconnect Oerth to as many worlds (points in space/time) as possible, until finally Oerth’s reality hits a “critical mass” and all planar connections are re-established (including portable holes and bags of holding). All three pantheon groups will be working simultaneously to achieve this goal.

Given the events of Saturday (Mikhail temporarily regaining the memories and abilities of the ullitharid from the Annulus), I think the Greek team would like to go first (as in, I can only run one game at a time). Thoughts? Remember, the goal is to reconnect worlds. I think a discussion on how to achieve this might help. As Kari already deduced, journeying to another world and creating a gate by spell or device should suffice. Unfortunately, casting 9th lvl spells on worlds where your god might not even be worshiped is tough...

Already connected to Oerth are: (via the Tower, but not counting) Terrax, Maneä, Cidri, and Eon. Worlds which should be no-brainers for SOMEONE include: Torsh, Sindareth, Maldev, Kaiousei, Etheria, Eternia, Ravenloft, Diablo, etc.

Thoughts anyone...?

[Andy]

How is this trial scored? Do the Greeks get credit for the worlds that Brand had inadvertantly already created gates in? What are the limits of help that we may call to bear?

I'd point out creating a Gate (as per the 7th level cleric spell) ages the poor fool somewhere between 1 and 3 years, IIRC. I'm guessing any persistant connection between the two planes would do it...but I'm not coming up with any easy way to do that offhand. Hmm....

[David]

Howdy Elf --

A) worlds connected PRIOR to the start of the Panthiad do NOT count. Therefore, Jessica does NOT get credit for the four other worlds tied to the Tower of Illusion, nor does Brand get credit for Tartareus, the Ethereal, or the "Desert World", but he has NOT accessed the "Dinosaur World" from Oerth yet, so that should count (Greeks start off with ONE world!).

B) Any VALID Greek may be called into service, plus those beings tied to the Greek heroes by loyalty or debt (friends, family, and quest-victims). This naturally applies equally to ALL pantheons. That said, no more than 100 levels of heroes and/or 11 individuals can be on any given game.

C) Brand's cube, which creates a temporary gate, is "good enough". There are other spells out there, but gate is the obvious one. You are correct, however, that the spell ages the caster FIVE years. Curiously, items do not seem to age...

D) Jasmine points out that while we have Mikhail, Borlon has his staff of world-walking and Quendi her staff of the magi, so at best the tables are now balanced. We need to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.

E) the DM will score the teams AT THE SAME TIME. So whichever group is the first in OUR world to link, say Kaiousei, get's credit for all the Scandinasians.

F) there are probably a number of other spells and magic items that can do the trick; I was giving you the obvious ones (in other words, research might be needed, even by me -- that's where big quests for helpful goodies can come in too!)

[Andy]

Okay - that all makes sense. But in particular - we need to make a gate (some sort of persistant conduit) between whatever world we find ourselves on *to* Oerth, correct? The cube can do this, but other than one exception I can't think of any powers or spells that do this, other than Gate. All other planar travel (Teleport woE, Plane Shift, etc) seems to be instantaneous. Other non-instantaneous long-distance travel (Dimentional folding, Astral Window, Dimention Walk, etc) is all tactly non-extra planar.

In the New Heros game, all the various heros had to do was get someplace and get someone's attention properly...is that sufficent? Just reasonably powerful Divination? Or any higher level spell that requires the divinity's basic awareness (3rd+ lvl cleric spells? 5th+ lvl cleric spells?)

If this is true, then this is a toootal spellcaster game. Nice...

[Stephanous]

Hi All,

One thought did cross my mind as to aging 5 years when casting a gate spell. What if we get a being who doesn't age to do the casting?

Paul

[Stephanous]

Pandora has 3 Javelins of Aria that go to Terrix, Sigil and Iron Tooth. I beleive David said Terrix was already connected, but I'm not sure about the other two. Also, i know that Lawrence has a few more javelins like mine that we ight be able to buy from him.

Paul

[Andy]

stephanous said:

Also, i know that Lawrence has a few more javelins like mine that we ight be able to buy from him.

Paul

Yeah, particularly if we don't tell him why we need them. :>

[Andy]

Do permanent fixtures count as already established? E.g. open trans-world gates (like the one on The Island of Abydos to the Plane of Abydos), well of many worlds, etc?

[David]

Hello Elf, Paully, and other minions of my Evil Mastermind^TM,

Let's see....

Yes, Elf, we need to make some sort of persistent (even for a few minutes) connection between world. That makes this game decidedly different from the New Heroes, who were trying to contact nigh-omnipotent beings (their gods) and/or fragments of their own soul (the Heroes of Abydos), both of which only required the slightest nudge to do the work. In order to reconnect Oerth to the rest of reality, you're going to be doing some "heavy lifting".

That said, I *DO* think this will STILL be a spell-caster's game. In fact, something Paul mentioned made me think that the Greeks will certainly have an advantage...but it wouldn't be fair for me to completely spell it out for you...

Paul, you're right on target. Brand knows that if the Tower is set, then Terrax is already hooked in. He's never been to or heard of Irontooth. According to Brand, Sigil is the name of a mythical city INSIDE the cyclone at the center of the Concordant Opposition, reachable only by capricious gates and EXTREMELY potent probability travelers...

Elf, Lawrence should be generally neutral within the scope of this conflict as Bahamut is dragon god and they are actually most closely alignment with the Babylonian pantheon (well, Bahamut is, at least). That said, just as the Dwarven pantheon is close to the Norse, so too will the elves generally support the Greeks (as well as the Norse and Celts, in that order).

As for wells of many worlds, they do not currently work -- those on Oerth were broken during the Apocalypse (along with the portable holes) and those off-world can't make a connection if returned. Good line of reasoning, however...

The gateway to Abydos no longer exists; it closed forever on the 16th of June and Abydos as a pocket universe has itself been sheered from the rest of the multiverse.

[Stephanous]

So David,

With the Javelins of Arias that go to other worlds, If the javelin opens a gateway to the world, would we actually have to step through? Couldn't we just leave it open as long as possible and let the worlds connect without having to step through?

Paul
aka Pandora
p.s. the mages like Vlad, Brand and Allyrian should check the spellbooks that they got from the lich to see if any of them have Gate in them.

[Andy]

That's funny - I think Jyoli might have a scroll with 'Gate' on it, now that you mention it along with a few other wholesome tidbits like 'Slay Living' and 'Poison'... Hmm...I'll have to check.

It's my impression that the Javelins activate a mass-teleport like function rather than a persistant gate, per se, (I recall a bunch of hands-linking was involved in their use) but I'll leave it to David to rule on that.

The more than I think about it, I believe the Egyptians will be difficult to beat on this one. A snatch and grab operation against them seems like a better and better idea...I the player am all for it.

Quendi might be convinced, but probably stands somewhat indecisive right now as she's trying to work on a G for her alignment, and she wants to remain pivotal in the Oerdians' effort just in case one of the other teams messes up and ends up trapped somewhere.

Anther interesting thing - 'Probability Travel' has a chance of failure = 20% minus 2% per level of mastry of the user. In the Death=Adder chronicles Tyris=Flare blew this roll often enough that she was often lost for weeks, and led to her traveling to many other worlds on accident, including the other 4 worlds, the Postive and Negative Material Planes, many of the Elemental Planes, etc. Perhaps there is some way we could deliberately cause Mikhail to fail his roll so that he goes someplace new? Tyr didn't have the ability to gate herself back...

[David]

Howdy Elf,

A couple of things:

You are correct; the javelins function as area of effect dimensional teleporters, not as a gate.

Andar REALLY thinks that the best course of action is to sabotage the Egyptians. Taking away or temporarily disabling Borlon's staff of worldwalking would be the best way to do this.

Jasmine's idea was to use Kephalonia's probability control to spike Mikhail's chances of success (when we first start) and then failure (one we've connected all the worlds we have in our repetoire).

[Andy]

Well congrats to the Greeks, and thanks to Mikhail for taking one for the team, as well as Andar for the intel he gathered...our two token Greek Atheists.

Anyway, I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Kephalonia gets to bag herself a Duke! Try dicing for that in your treasure share.

-A-

[Jenn G]

And I think this is the first time I have been excited about a character dying. Should be fun to frolic around the underworld for a while.

[David]

So, what Elf is referring to...

On 616 / 7 / 17 the Third and Final Panthiad Began.

For the Greeks the team was Arianna, Allyrion, Rufus, Kephalonia, Stephanos, Andar, Gwen, Thera, and Mikhail. The plan was to use Brand's cube and the memories Mikhail had regained to quickly establish a blitzkrieg of dimensional connections. Arianna, one of the "grateful dead" would cast gate from a scroll while combined with the other priests and/or Kephalonia used a moment to maximize the chances of success.

So, at dawn, Allyrion used the Brand's cube to access the jungles of "the dinosaur world" (the desert world had already been accessed during a previous Trial). Next, using one of Pandora's enchanted javelins, the heroes were teleported to Irontooth, where the party tasted red, tangy air and spied the massive, gleaming, metal mountains. Finally, using the tuning-fork frequencies Jasmine had earlier revealed, Kephalonia plane shifted the heroes along with Thailine, to Orion in order to return her and buy additional scrolls of gate.

Then, after being warned not to return again to Orion, with most of the group in bags of holding (other than Arianna and Kephalonia) and Mikhail's mental powers augmented by a potion of psi-enhancement and a level-adder, the boy shifted the group to a series of worlds using the boy's nascent probability traveling powers. Andar had previous learned of the mental "feel" for a probability traveler of a series of worlds from Tyris=Flare and shared these memories with the boy.

The first stop was the (formerly desert) world of Taja; the heroes appearing in a massive, dense forest at night with many bright stars twinkling beyond the evergreen canopy. Next was Etheria, which turned out to be a lush, warm, mountain valley ringed by mountains. After this, the group risked Maneä2, appearing at night in the jungles of this alternate reality. Loud noises were squaked and crashed in the distance and the group caught sight of something rushing them as they fled back to their reality. After this, Mikhail shifted the group to Maneä3, appearing before dawn in the oceans of this world. Mikhail, benefitting from the group's foresight, had a strength and fly spell on him, and so was able to fly into the sky and gain altitude with Kephalonia and Arianna. That's when a group of sahuaghin shot at the witch with barbed, tethered crossbows. Luckily, they escaped to a height of over 300' where Arianna used her second-to-last scroll. As the group returned to a field in Oerth in the morning light, two psionic, flying sharks with sahuaghin riders stormed through the gate. Behind them were tethers to the sea-devil's fellows.

The party suddenly found itself battling a much more numerous foe. Allyrion flew out of one of the bags of holding, only to be swallowed whole. Kephalonia was quickly ripped open and only Arianna's fleshless nature saved her serious wounds. Mikhail reflexively shifted in time, re-appearing later, after Kephalonia had un-itemized Rufus. The mariner, unfortunately, was also swallowed whole. Meanwhile, Allyrion had dimension doored free and began blasting the melee with lightning bolts. That's when Arianna was swallowed. On cue, Mikhail reappeared and went ballistic, trying to hurt and torture the sahughin as much as possible. Clearly, not just the memories of his dimensional jaunt had been stabilized by Andar. For his part, the telepath psionically immobilized a large number of the sahuaghin, but the psionic air-sharks proved quite a threat. Doby, now also in the fight, nearly succubed to the mental assaults despite dodging most of the physical threat. Meanwhile, more air-shark riding sahuaghin were entering this reality via the open gate. In fact, just after cutting himself free, Rufus was again swallowed whole! Allyrion helped him out here, lighting bolting the creatures and the tethers while Kephalonia produced flame on them. Finally, with the tethers cut, the gate closed, no more sea-devils arrived, and the heroes finished off what was left, with Stephanos nobling shielding both Mikhail and Andar.

Clearly, Mikhail retained some of the darker memories of the Annulus. Taking a risk, the heroes went to one last world after Gwen charmed the boy through a bit of subterfuge. The final world was Oerth2, the alternate-universe home of Chamois. Mikhail immediately freaked out when the group arrived, but Arianna completed the spell (the most dangerous of all!) and returned the heroes to their own Oerth before any trouble arrived.

Almost immediately, the heroes felt the effect, They had accessed SEVEN of the required THIRTEEN worlds. Every gate, portal, and dimensional apperature on Oerth simultaneously reactivated as Oerth was once again connected with the multiverse. The heroes looked up and saw the Olympians in the clouds, smiling down on them. Each were granted a minor boon from their gods...

Arianna was instantly restore to life, her time as an undead finally over.

Allyrion was rewarded with a child craft of his and Brand's blood mixed with the divine clay used to create humanity; finally a child truly of their own.

Rufus asked Poseidon for the fastest ship ever. He was told to seek a specific spot in the Southern Sea...*ominous music*

Kephalonia wish was happily granted by Aphrodite, that Duke de Shane of Greyhawk would fall madly, passionately in love with her. Revenge is best cooked up by a witch of Hecate and served by the goddess of love...

Stephanos' bow was blessed by Apollo to fire one shaft of daylight in lieu of all other arrows per round. This arrow would slay nearly any vampire or destroy drowic weapons and armor.

Andar the atheist was cured of horsemouth. Nothing more.

Gwen, in addition to having Aphrodite make Aris also fall madly in love with her again (good idea, Kephalonia!), had both her son, Nikolas, and her unborn child receive the blessings of the Olympians.

Thera asked for the gift to leave Hades' domain the next time she were to "visit". As an added bonus, she died on the spot, as a way to "test out" her new boon once for "free". Time for her to join the Shadow Knights as a living, free-willed skotos...

Mikhail, now a firm agnostic, was also cured of horsemouth. In addition, Athena cured the boy's insanity and purged him mind of the nightmares and darker aspects of his merge with the Annulus.